Class

Slumdog Millionaire is the first movie we have seen in this class that is really focused on separation by class. In Lagaan, we see separation through nationality, in Bhumika, we see separation through gender, and the same rings true for Mirch Masala, though there was a little class separation there as well. Though these films highlight different separations, they all show how a group can come together and eventually come out on top. The villagers in Lagaan and the women in Mirch Masala, along with Jamal and the lower class in India. In Slumdog Millionaire, we see the poverty stricken class cheering for Jamal, because he is “one of them.”

I read an article about Slumdog Millionaire that talked about the middle class in India. The middle class believed that the film was a bad example of India. They wanted their country depicted as a rising economic power, and one of the most famous Indian films was about a boy raised in poverty and only escaping that poverty by winning money on a game show. The felt the film was a bad representation of their country, but rather Jamal’s life was a sad reality.